Reasons Why You’re Not Losing Weight

Have you been wondering, when you exercise regularly and watch what you eat, why you haven’t been losing weight? Well it could be down to a few little choices in your life that may be stopping you from losing those all important pounds. Here are a few of the most common reasons why you are struggling to lose weight.

You aren’t drinking enough water

We all know that drinking enough water is important but most of us fall very short of out 2 litre daily recommendation, I know I do, but drinking enough water will aid your weight loss. It helps to suppress appetite which will stop you from overeating but that’s not all. When you get dehydrated your kidneys can’t function properly, so your body asks your liver to help. Due to the fact that your liver is working so hard, more of the fat you consume is being stored instead of being burnt off. It is important to know that your intake of water is relevant to how much you are exercising and how much fiber you consume. The more fiber you consume the more water you need to drink or it can cause constipation rather than relieve it.

You aren’t eating enough protein

Many studies show that a high protein diet results in shedding more of those all important pounds and stops you from losing muscle as you lose weight. Most women should get 40 to 80 grams of protein a day and each meal you have should contain some sort of protein, be it meat, fish, eggs or lentils. There is little benefit to having a meal without any protein at all, so load your salads up with tuna, boiled eggs or anything you fancy but make sure you are getting enough in every meal you have.

You spend your day at a desk

Most of us work behind a desk or computer and have a very sedate working day. Even those of us who think we exercise often are missing out on burning those precious calories by staying behind our desks all day. Now I’m not saying you need to be doing sit ups while answering the phone or sending an email but did you know that getting up and walking for 2 minutes of an hour in your working day burns an extra 59 calories on average. If you did that every hour for your entire working day you could burn 472 calories! A pretty impressive number indeed.

You’re letting stress get the better of you

A lot of us turn to comfort food to help us combat stress which piles on the calories (and the pounds). The stress hormone cortisol triggers the fight-or-flight response from the body, which is an appetite stimulant. It also increases the production of a brain chemical called neuropeptide Y, which increases cravings for carbs. Too much cortisol will slow your metabolism and excessive stress can cause fat to be stored in the abdominal area, where it is harder to lose weight. But it’s not all bad news, luckily the exercise we are doing to reduce that abdominal fat can actually help reduce stress and nutritious meals can also repair the damage that stress can cause to our bodies.